richards

Ok, what is it about this snapshot that is distinct from so many others? Yes, the endearing vintage look is appealing as is the interesting unfolding of the ‘dance’ event. But it’s really just some guy sweeping up in a hardware store. —- that’s exactly right - it’s not a kissing couple on a foggy Parisian boulevard or a busy street corner in New York. You really don’t need a professional master photographer to create beauty. —— the hues are fabulous in this indoor flashbulb that exposure. The two gestures are so wonderfully choreographed. And most of all it’s the solid structure of the picture. Look at the harmonious diagonal lines created by his leg, broom stick, bar edge, her leg. And how everything fits into where it should be so casually. Nice photo

Thank you for the kind comments! Mary Lloyd Johnson carried her camera everywhere, capturing local events and people. She has captured our local history like no other person.

And that's Picaso's masterpiece "Guernica" in the background too. It's now in Madrid.

See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_%28painting%29#Post-exhibi... for more about the travels of Guernica during and after WWII. It was at MOMA for much of that time, going back to Spain in 1981.

and now it hardly leaves Reina Sofia.... :)

Posted by LOC on November 19, 2010:

hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/wgpubs.051 is a scan of the Downbeat cover that includes the arrangers from this shot. hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/wgpubs.052 is the article by Got (Bill Gottlieb) that describes the visit and explains why the cover did not include Guernica.

Sheila and Cheryl are Hawley sisters and the little girl in the blue dress is their little sister Joanne Hawley Neal. Beccie Snider is Cheryl’s daughter and would be a generation later than this photo.